On the night of Galactic Standard Year 4, November 24, Aayla Secura arrived in Coronet City, piloting her T-6 Jedi Shuttle to rendezvous with Max Vizsla.
The next morning, the Bespin delegation that had visited Coruscant and the Corellian inspection delegation bound for Bespin assembled together, and set off on the voyage to Bespin.
After boarding the flagship of the Corellian military-civil inspection mission—a CR-12 Thranta-class Corvette, the Tyrena—and then looking over at the two accompanying escort ships, the C-80 Sphyrna-class Corvettes, as well as their own Cloud City ship and the Kom'rk-class starfighter, Max couldn't help thinking of a line someone once said: [9]
"Looking at this hardware, it's like someone laid out a timeline in front of you—you can feel the sheer weight of history in these hulls."
A Thranta-class, after all—an Old Republic Navy workhorse from the Great Galactic War over three thousand years ago, still in service today. It was honestly hard to wrap his head around. This was like someone pulling a relic-era starship blueprint out of a museum vault and using it as a front-line design in the modern era.
"Lord Vizsla," Admiral Berethron of the Corellian Defense Force Navy introduced with evident pride on the Tyrena's bridge, "this Tyrena is a decorated veteran. She fought in the Great Galactic War—she's fired on the Sith Empire."
…What?
Max's pupils practically detonated. He stared at Berethron in disbelief. He'd assumed this was a modern hull built off an old design.
"Of course, she's undergone multiple refits and upgrades," Berethron continued, "but even now, she still retains over five percent of her original components. Corellian manufacturing is synonymous with durability and reliability!"
"Hah…" Max exhaled a long breath.
Five percent. Alright. That's… still insane, but at least it wasn't the entire ship.
"Now look outside," Berethron said, pointing through the port and starboard viewports. "Those two are C-80 Sphyrna-class Corvettes—CEC's latest. The best utility warships in the galaxy!"
That wasn't really an exaggeration, Max thought. Solid performance for the price, tough as nails. In the original timeline, by the end of the Clone Wars, these things were everywhere—warlords, pirates, and smugglers all over the galaxy had Sphyrnas purchased through Corellian channels.
"Oh?" Max put on a show of surprise. "That good, huh? Then my navy needs to procure a few as well!"
"Now you're talking," Berethron said approvingly, nodding. "Just like the government side is planning to unify Bespin's social security system with the Republic's. We're family now—same equipment, same logistics. That's how it should be."
So you can pivot the topic like that, huh… Max nodded and smiled along. "Exactly. Exactly."
If Senator Leif Galamby's civil delegation was really just going to Bespin for a formality, then the military delegation led by Admiral Berethron had a very real job to do.
In theory, joining the Corellian Republic meant signing the Mutual Defense Treaty. The treaty stipulated that any attack on a member state of the Corellian Republic would be regarded as an attack on all member states, triggering a Corellian Defense Force response.
The "martial" Mandalorians had a reputation that was… well-known (and infamous). And given the chaos and lawlessness of the Outer Rim, the Corellian Defense Force was deeply worried that "the newly added Bespin state would drag the entire Republic into war." They insisted that a Bespin-specific clause must be added to the Mutual Defense Treaty.
How that Bespin clause would be written depended on the results of this military inspection.
They were in the middle of discussing it when a comms rating on the Tyrena hurried over to report to Admiral Berethron: the fleet would clear Corellia's gravity well in five minutes.
"Admiral Berethron," Max suggested, "should we transfer over to Cloud City's ship? You're in your prime, and I'm young—no issue. But Senator Galamby is an elder statesman. On a long haul like this, we should take better care of him."
Before Berethron could respond, Leif Galamby himself spoke up from the side. "Hey—what's that supposed to mean? I'm old? Back in my day—"
"I agree with Lord Vizsla," Berethron cut in, making his decision decisively.
The CR-12 Thranta-class was compact, sharp, and extremely heavily armed for its size. It measured 300 meters long, yet its firepower configuration was close to what you'd expect from a 600-meter Dreadnought-class heavy cruiser.
At the bow, it mounted two dual heavy turbolaser cannons. Along the port and starboard sides, it carried four laser turrets apiece. On the ventral hull, it mounted a single ion cannon. In addition, it was equipped with six concussion missile tubes and four tractor beam projectors. [3]
It also had a respectable starfighter capacity. Under standard mission configuration, its internal hangars could carry fourteen starfighters, three bombers, and four assault shuttles.
But space inside the hull was finite—cram in that much weaponry, and you naturally squeeze out creature comforts. Life aboard wasn't exactly harsh… but "comfortable" would be a stretch. At best, it was merely adequate.
For cost-effectiveness reasons, the C-80 Sphyrna-class corvettes only mounted Class 3 hyperdrives. That meant the entire fleet would have to spend twenty days in hyperspace along the Corellian Trade Spine route before reaching the Bespin region.
A twenty-day haul like that, with Senator Galamby—who'd suffered a myocardial infarction before—staying aboard the Tyrena? That really wasn't ideal. So Berethron made the call without hesitation.
Besides, Cloud City's ship was Corellian-built as well. Switching over didn't cost face.
In truth, the Corellian Defense Force Navy—as a long-established shipbuilding powerhouse—wasn't lacking in massive capital ships like dreadnoughts.
But because of the post-Ruusan Reformation arms-control treaties, Corellia's heavy ships didn't mount hyperdrives; they could only patrol within the Corellian system.
So for a long-range mission like a visit to Bespin, the job could only be given to ships like the 300-meter CR-12 and the 116.7-meter C-80.
However, by this point in history, even if the Corellian Republic was still obeying the Ruusan arms-control restrictions, that didn't mean everyone else was.
The Trade Federation certainly wasn't—they had refitted LH-3210 freighters into battleship-grade combatants.
And the Hutt Clans weren't obeying either.
Max and Admiral Berethron were about to find that out very soon.
At 10:00 on Galactic Standard Year 4, November 25, the joint Bespin–Corellia fleet jumped into hyperspace outside Corellia's gravity well. At the instant starlight stretched into lines, a vicious premonition slammed straight into Max Vizsla's face.
"Instructor?" Max turned to Aayla Secura.
Aayla's expression was grave as she nodded. "I felt it too."
("Your trip to Coruscant is bright ahead, everything will go smoothly, and there will be no danger.")
Remembering her own earlier prophecy, Aayla bit down hard on her lip. Why hadn't she sensed the danger on the return journey at the time?
PS: Whether in Legends or in the current canon, the warship classification system in Star Wars is pretty chaotic.
One of the clearer and more reasonable systems is the Anaxes War College classification used in Legends:
Light corvette: length 100–200 m;
Corvette: length 200–400 m;
Cruiser: length 400–600 m;
Heavy cruiser: length 600–1000 m;
Star Destroyer: length 1k–2 km;
Battlecruiser: length 2–5 km;
Dreadnought: length 5 km and above.
For ships that appear in the source material, this novel will respect the original terms and translate them as-is. However, ships belonging to the protagonist's faction will refer to the Anaxes War College system for naming and classification.
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